the 9-21-51 dynamic focus IMHO is much better for sports. You need to acquire focus with you selected point and the AF module will use neighboring focus points to keep the subject in focus as you/it moves -- If the focus point you're on leaves the subject or loses focus. You need to keep your focus point on the subject.

3D tracking works best if the camera is on a tripod and not moving much at all. Your AF module will actually move from one focus point to another to keep the subject in focus, (you will see this in the viewfinder) -- as it tracks the subject's movement through the focus area. If you can't keep up tracking your subjects, this might work well for you too.

I use AF-C 9pt almost 100% of the time and I've never had focus issues.

Click to expand...

I will try that when I'm testing my lens, upon it's return, of course.
Boom!

"I have used 9 point. BUT, it is easily fooled by the line ref crossing in front of me. Then it starts to track the ref, not the player "

And THAT is exactly why lock-on needs to be set to SLOW, not FAST. Which is as I have mentioned here many,many,many times the exact OPPOSITE of the way most people set Lock-On.

If a foreground object that the camera just "swings by" causes the focus to move to the wrong zone, youi'e probably got Lock-On set to FAST....because you think it means, "well, I want focus to Lock-On as fast as possible." No, wrong.

Lock-On SHOULD have been labeled something like temporary new target or object acquisition delay: SLOW, or FAST.

If a single person stepping in front of a locked-on focus point causes an immediate refocus in sports or action shooting--you do NOT have your new,modern, Nikon camera set up right.

I cannot agree with all of this single point AF talk here...nope, no way...9 or 11-point, and RTFM and practice for a year or so..

"I have used 9 point. BUT, it is easily fooled by the line ref crossing in front of me. Then it starts to track the ref, not the player "

And THAT is exactly why lock-on needs to be set to SLOW, not FAST. Which is as I have mentioned here many,many,many times the exact OPPOSITE of the way most people set Lock-On.

If a foreground object that the camera just "swings by" causes the focus to move to the wrong zone, youi'e probably got Lock-On set to FAST....because you think it means, "well, I want focus to Lock-On as fast as possible." No, wrong.

Lock-On SHOULD have been labeled something like temporary new target or object acquisition delay: SLOW, or FAST.

If a single person stepping in front of a locked-on focus point causes an immediate refocus in sports or action shooting--you do NOT have your new,modern, Nikon camera set up right.

I cannot agree with all of this single point AF talk here...nope, no way...9 or 11-point, and RTFM and practice for a year or so..

Click to expand...

I can't wait to get my lens back to try different things and see if I can get better with it.

the 9-21-51 dynamic focus IMHO is much better for sports. You need to acquire focus with you selected point and the AF module will use neighboring focus points to keep the subject in focus as you/it moves -- If the focus point you're on leaves the subject or loses focus. You need to keep your focus point on the subject.

3D tracking works best if the camera is on a tripod and not moving much at all. Your AF module will actually move from one focus point to another to keep the subject in focus, (you will see this in the viewfinder) -- as it tracks the subject's movement through the focus area. If you can't keep up tracking your subjects, this might work well for you too.

I use AF-C 9pt almost 100% of the time and I've never had focus issues.

Click to expand...

I found that you have to test them out to see what works for you and the sport you are shooting.

I currently shoot 9 point dynamic.

However, you need to be prepared to refocus. I had a line ref run in front of me, and the camera lost focus lock on the subject and locked onto the line ref. The next shots had the player out of focus, but the line ref running down the sideline was in focus.

In a group of players mixing it up, the camera could loose focus lock of the player and lock onto another player.

3D

Was worthless, when I was shooting tennis. The focus indicator would bounce all over; court lines, background, etc. I did not have any confidence on the AF staying with the player.

Worthless, when I was shooting football. In a group of players (think QB running through the line) the AF would loose focus of QB and the lock onto another player. IOW, it could not track the subject, once the subject got into a group of other players.

"I have used 9 point. BUT, it is easily fooled by the line ref crossing in front of me. Then it starts to track the ref, not the player "

And THAT is exactly why lock-on needs to be set to SLOW, not FAST. Which is as I have mentioned here many,many,many times the exact OPPOSITE of the way most people set Lock-On.

If a foreground object that the camera just "swings by" causes the focus to move to the wrong zone, youi'e probably got Lock-On set to FAST....because you think it means, "well, I want focus to Lock-On as fast as possible." No, wrong.

Lock-On SHOULD have been labeled something like temporary new target or object acquisition delay: SLOW, or FAST.

If a single person stepping in front of a locked-on focus point causes an immediate refocus in sports or action shooting--you do NOT have your new,modern, Nikon camera set up right.

I cannot agree with all of this single point AF talk here...nope, no way...9 or 11-point, and RTFM and practice for a year or so..

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip.

I found the "lock-on" in the custom settings.
Mine was at 3 = normal.
I changed it to 5 = slow.
There is a basketball game next week that I can try it out.

Yes! I like it set to slow...so it does NOT immediately try to re-focus on temporarily in-the-shot things that were not initially selected by me, using the 4-way controller.

The idea is to use the 4-way controller, to manually TELL the camera what the desired AF area or target "is"...then, Nikon's color-aware, and distance-aware 3-D metering can get the focus on that subject and based on your, initial,manually-set initial target lock, the computer can track and follow that subject.